Man Accused In Waukesha Courthouse Bomb Scare Pleads Guilty

WAUKESHA, WI – Jeffrey Ferrick, the person accused of calling in a phony bomb threat in the Waukesha County Courthouse in January has pleaded guilty to the charges against him.

According to court records, Ferrick, 55, of Delafield, has pleaded guilty to two counts of felony bomb scares.

Waukesha County Sheriff Eric Severson said he first learned of the tip at just before 9 a.m. Monday, Jan. 6 when a then-anonymous tipster contacted a local television station about the threat. The station then alerted Severson of the threat. Authorities say a second call was received at 9:10 a.m. by Waukesha County Communications from a second then-anonymous tipster, who provided similar information to the first call.

"We had about eight minutes to do an analysis. I made the determination that discretion was the better part here," Severson said. "I'm satisfied we took the safest course of action."

Severson said the then-anonymous tipster warned that there were a total of five bombs planted in the building with the first one set to go off at 9 a.m. No bombs ever went off, nor were found.

As part of their investigation, Waukesha Sheriff's officials released a photo of Ferrick after he was spotted at a local hospital that same day. Authorities said the surveillance photo was taken at the Aurora Medical Center in Summit. The second phone call was traced back to the Waukesha Memorial Hospital.

Authorities said Ferrick was arrested that afternoon at his home in Delafield.